


The Climb

by INMH



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, Fear of Falling, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Phobias, fears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-02
Packaged: 2018-05-11 04:07:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5613403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/INMH/pseuds/INMH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As one might imagine, scaling large staircases is a touch intimidating for small beings who have never done it before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Climb

Blasted dwarves.

Blasted, _blasted_ dwarves.

You’d think that, standing not much higher from the ground than Hobbits, that they wouldn’t need to climb so _high_ (or delve so deep, as it were).

Bilbo stared with no small amount of resentment at the long staircase before him, as though the stone had done him some personal insult. Really, he wasn’t being irrational at all- who in their right mind would build a staircase consisting of more than twenty stairs (he’d gotten a bit dizzy after he’d counted to twenty-three and stopped)? Who had such a need for that? They could have easily put another floor in about ten steps up. Quite easily, by his estimation.

And where on _earth_ were the railings? Bilbo had never seen a set of stairs higher than three steps without a railing. Never. Surely if the dwarves were not mad, they might have realized how easily one could fall to their doom? There was nothing below those stairs for a long, long ways. Falling was all too easy. Surely they knew that risk?

But as a long string of scenes, excerpts from the last several months rolled through his mind, it occurred to Bilbo with grim exasperation that dwarves were not only quite capable of mad things, but also were not always so inclined to thinking things through. _Parasites!_ His mind cried, almost ruefully.

But surely… Surely there had to have been a time when someone had slipped on those stairs, yes?

Bilbo swallowed, clenching and unclenching his fists.

They’re just stairs, aren’t they? He’s climbed stairs before- ( _Never this big, never this long, never this **steep!**_ )- oh _shush!_ They’re just stairs. Simply stairs. Nothing more, nothing less. He’d climbed up the stairs in the treasure room, hadn’t he? Why yes, he had, and probably many more after finding the Arkenstone! ( _While being chased by a fire-breathing dragon, which was rather a priority, didn’t give you much time to **think** about it, did it?_ )

“Oh, _shush!_ ” Bilbo hissed to himself.

Enough. Enough of this foolishness. He’d faced down a dragon, hadn’t he? And giant spiders, and Orcs, and goblins, and trolls, and that- _thing_ in the Misty Mountains. Those things were far more dangerous and frightening than these stairs. He was quite old enough and coordinated enough to get up these stairs without any fuss.

He just had to get his feet to move.

Curiously enough, that was easier said than done. Though Bilbo’s mind willed his foot to take a step, his feet were entirely uncooperative. His toes wiggled on command, but the feet they were attached to were otherwise motionless.

_This is ridiculous. Someone will be along soon, and what exactly do you plan on saying to them, barrel-rider?_

Bilbo took a deep breath, and then took a step forward.

His underestimated how high he would have to step and stumbled.

Bilbo was halfway back to the door before he managed to stop himself, wincing, realizing that no, really, there was no way that he could avoid this, not without telling the company and potentially being subjected to the ribbing he knew must come.

_Pull yourself together! They’re just **stairs!**_

“All right, then; one at a time. Up you get.”

Ah, and now he was talking to himself in complete sentences. Wonderful. Not mad at all.

Bilbo straightened up, clenched his fists, and stepped forward.

One step.

 _Just look down- all you have to do is look straight down. You won’t trip, and you’ll know exactly where your feet are_.

Two steps.

_Good, good, now another._

Three.

_This isn’t so bad._

Four.

_Not bad at all._

Five.

_Goodness, you must be close now._

Six.

_How many more steps? You must already be-_

He looked up.

Which was a mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake.

Because he was not, in fact, close to the landing, not at all. He was about halfway between the two landings; in his determined focus, Bilbo had neglected to recall that six steps was not “almost there” for a Dwarf, as it would be for a Hobbit.

So, as it was, Bilbo found himself stranded between two landings, in the middle of a staircase with no railings and quite the long fall to the, to the-

…Oh goodness, that was a long way to fall, wasn’t it?

His knees began to shake. With the utmost caution, Bilbo slowly lowered himself to his knees, fingers clutching awkwardly at the steps. “Oh dear,” he croaked, trying to swallow and finding that he couldn’t. “Oh dear.”

Should he call for help? _Could_ he, given that his throat seemed to be clogged with terror? Quite likely, no one would even hear him; after all, they were all in the massive hall where the bulk of the mountain’s riches were kept, combing through the gold for the Arkenstone (which, of course, was currently tucked away in his pocket. Maybe if he yelled “Found it” Thorin would simply materialize next to him, given just how obsessed he was over that bloody rock-)

“Master Baggins?”

Bilbo wanted to laugh hysterically from sheer terror and embarrassment. He didn’t even need to turn his head to know who it was that was speaking to him from behind. “Afternoon, Fili, how are you?” His voice came out, but it was a horrible squeaking sound, like wagon-wheel that hadn’t been properly oiled.

“Well enough, well enough- Why are you hugging the stairs?” Fili’s tone was jovial and curious, as though he simply thought embracing stone staircases was some sort of strange Hobbit custom.

“Oh- no reason. Just taking a rest. Thought this looked like a good spot.” Were he not as panicked, Bilbo may have edged more than his fair share of sarcasm into those words. As it was, he could barely manage to speak at all, never mind dig at anyone who wasn’t clear on why someone might be clinging to a staircase.

He heard Fili approaching, and remained perfectly still until the Dwarf was right behind him. He flinched when Fili gave his back a little pat. “Looking to go up?”

“Actually, I’m rather content to go back down, at this point.”

“Right, then- give me your hand- there’s a good fellow. Now shut your eyes, and trust me.”

And it was with that that Fili carefully guided Bilbo back down those six steps. When they reached the landing, Bilbo was ready to collapse with relief. He leaned against the wall near the doorway and sank down to the ground once more. He didn’t dare look at Fili, for fear he’d see the same amusement the company usually showed whenever he made it clear he wasn’t a seasoned traveler, as they were.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, it’s alright,” Fili said easily, sitting down beside him. “Y’know, Kili and I weren’t too very old when we fled Erebor. We didn’t spend a great load of time in places like this.” At this, the prince looked up and around at the winding staircases above their heads. “Visiting family was always a kick, because our playmates would be running around on staircases just like these, and Kili and I would always be quite mindful of where we were stepping. Probably the only time he’s ever shown any caution.”

He grins, and Bilbo returns it with a grateful smile. “Probably.”

“In any case, no shame in being a bit shaky on the structure of the mountain. We’ll get used to it in time.”

Bilbo’s smile nearly faltered, but he kept it steady as Fili helped him to his feet and they set off back towards the treasure hall.

After all, he wasn’t sure how much more of a chance he’d have to get used to things. The quest was complete, Erebor had been reclaimed and Smaug was dead; Bilbo’s purpose as the company’s burglar had been fulfilled, and then some.

But if Thorin found out that he had the Arkenstone, that he had withheld it from him for all this time…

Bilbo didn’t think he’d be getting too accustomed to Erebor at all.

 

-End


End file.
